Best knife make when comes to heat treat

CUSTOMS ! ! ! !

Now that we got that out of the way (yeah I can't afford them and can't wait years to get one) I have to say :
Basic, basic low cost = Buck
Middle price (of the high production common brands) : Spyderco (M4 !, HAP-40, N690 and others)
and
Cold Steel (CTS-XHP ; good luck finding one ((although I just picked up a Colossus a couple weeks ago ! ! !)))
 
The answer to this really depends upon what your needs and preferences are.

[QUOTE="FiveToes]they follow the customer's requirements,[/QUOTE]

This comment says it all. Every knife maker and company has their own idea of the perfect steel and they target that. Are there some out there that are just terrible? Absolutely. But most makers do exactly what they want for their own reasons with their steels and because of that, we end up have makers preferences.
 
I see that someone else beat me to it, but there is never one single knife or one single company that is "the best," regardless of your requirements. One of the great things about being a knife enthusiast is that you can describe what you want, then use the responses to help you narrow down your range of choices. It can drive you a bit crazy because there are so many good choices, but it works out in the end.
 
All we can offer would be opinions. Mine have Spyderco and Buck at the top. Kershaw, Cold Steel and Benchmade are really good too. Spyderco does cater to a large group of performance nuts both steel and edge knuts so they have really begun to offer some specialized models that have high hardness ( 64 to 66 rc isn't unknown) but they also have models that cater to more standard knife buyers that don't care as long as it's a stainless steel for instance.

Buck has expanded their choices lately including such things as 5160 folders but whichever steel of theirs you choose it will be excellent when it comes to getting the performance inherent in that particular steel.

Most any of the above companies is producing really good stuff so shop for the price, style, size, and lock type that suits you because there is little chance it will not be a good knife.

Joe
 
Spyderco. They're probably the only production company out there who will even bother to target high hardnesses (65 HRC+) with some of their crazier blade steels. It seems like they do a good job across-the-board.

Edit: Cold Steel is also consistently good with their heat treat, though they offer fewer steel choices.
 
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In my experience, the production knife companies that provide consistently great heat treats throughout their spectrum of products are Spyderco and Cold Steel.
 
As some others have stated, custom knives are usually a step above standard production knives when it comes to heat treatment. One name that comes to mind is Phil Wilson. His knives are well known to be exceptionally heat treated. I don’t think there is a production company that comes close to what he’s doing to his steels.

If I had to choose one... I’d probably give the nod to Rockstead. Now they’re almost as expensive as some customs, and I honestly don’t know if I should classify them as a production company, but their ZDP is famed for it’s hardness. I personally have no experience with either, but there’s a lot of testimonies out there for both Phil Wilson and Rockstead.
 
Fredrik Haakonsen
Adam Kornalski
Jerry Busse.
Obviously there are others, like Scott Gossman, Ryan Rodriguez, Devin Thomas and Warren (Willie71) whose work I don’t have the pleasure to know yet, but these three are very much tested by me.
 
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Whichever knife I put in my pocket to use any given day, that's the one that has the best heat treat, the one I'm carrying today.
The heat treat for me is an equal part of the equation along with blade geometry, blade length, bearings/washers and what I'm doing that day at work. Some days, it's no more than cutting a few boxes and an occasional thread that's trying to unravel itself. Some days I'm in a mud hole cutting plastic/duct tape, reaming PVC pipe. I certainly wouldn't want to use a knife with bearings working in a mud hole regardless of the steel or HT
 
hugofeynman said:
Fredrik Haakonsen
Adam Kornalski
Jerry Busse.
Obviously there are others, like Scott Gossman, Ryan Rodriguez and Warren (Willie71) whose work I don’t have the pleasure to know yet, but these three are very much tested by me.
Click to expand...

I’ve been wanting to try out Willie’s Z-Wear for quite some time now. I remember reading through his heat treat processes with it and while I didn’t understand all of it, I could see how much work he put into it.
 
I like Busse and Carothers heat treat. Both seem great.

I've also heard great stuff about Gough Custom Knives out of Toronto, Canada. Never tried one, but the heat treat on their A2 is supposed to be the bomb!
 
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